Dominus Muscae
by DennisDaMenace
Summary: William Golding's Lord of the Flies - ACTING EDITION - "In the midst of a wartime evacuation, a British plane crashes onto an isolated island in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The only survivors are children. Girls and boys. Can they learn to survive?"
1. Part 1: Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies, only William Golding. It is also closely based on the 'Acting Edition' adapted by Nigel Williams, and I'm not him either.**

**A/N: This is going to be a version of LOTF with some characters replaced as girls. But still set during WW2. **

-**Ralph** - is now **Rachel**  
-**Bill** - is now **Billie** (original right?)  
-**Henry** - is **Harriet  
-There is also a few more girls to even the side out a little. :)**

**I know there are a few of these fics out there, but I wanted to try as I am currently doing this play at my local theatre group, and there are boys and girls there, so I wanted to get across how different it could be, and how not. **

**There is three Parts, but if I was to do just three, there would be 10,000 words or more per chapter. So, each Part is split into two/three Chapters. It will be written: **Part 1: Chapter 1**, and, **Part 2: Chapter 1** and so on.**

_The title: '_Dominus Muscae_' means '_Lord of the Flies_' in Latin._

**DennisDaMenace x**

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**Part 1: Chapter 1**

Blue. Everything: as far as the eye can see; blue.

There is no one, until a girl runs across the beach with ease, she runs towards the shore line, wipes her brow and looks out towards the horizon. She sweeps her shoulder-length brown hair from her eyes.

"It's amazing!" she cries. She looks out towards the sun, and covers her eyes from its rays.

"What's amazin'?" a short, plump boy asks, about her age, from behind her. He sits on a large rock, almost a boulder.

"The sun; it's like a huge eye looking down on you," she explains, the boy settles into a more comfortable position on the rock, unimpressed.

"It's hot. That's what it is. Hot," he says his Cockney accent thick and rough.

The girl turns to face him and acknowledges his presence for the first time. She looks him up and down, his clothes are casual, unlike hers which is a pristinely kept school uniform: blazer, shirt, tie and trousers.

"That's a funny T-shirt," she laughs. The boy looks offended.

"My auntie gave it me, for me birthday. It's a jersey anyway."

The girl looks back out to the shore and starts to take off her shoes and socks. She rolls up her trouser legs and wades into the sea. "So?" She looks out towards the island and the beach, "it's amazing!"

The boy stays put. He doesn't move to join her when she moves further up the beach. "That's a lagoon! Great for swimming."

Feeling left out, the boy moves to join her, admiring the pool for a while, then turning away. "Can't swim."

"Can't you?" she asks, he nods.

"I sink," he says, as matter of fact. She laughs.

"You don't you know."

"I do. I know I do…" She reaches out and pokes at his stomach.

"Blubber…" she says, laughing still.

"Leave off," he shoves her hand away. He sits on a rock again, and thinks a little. The girl admires the lagoon a little more. "What's your name?"

"Rachel. What's yours?" she asks, turning to face him.

"Not telling."

"Is it a secret?" she pried, nudging him and smiling.

"It's a stupid name."

"What is it?"

The boy moves away again, stretching his legs. He turns to face Rachel, and then back towards the island. "Are they all dead d'you think?"

"What?" she asks, getting up to join him.

"The plane broke up. It's in two bits. The adults were at the front…"

"They can't be," Rachel interrupts, the idea scaring her a little.

"Why not?" he asks, he turns to face her again. "If they weren't they'd be here. Orgainizin'. And worse things happen. Me auntie says…"

"What does your auntie say?" Rachel asks.

"A lot." They smile. "My head really hurts..."

"I'm sorry?" Rachel asks, confused.

"That's why I can't swim."

"Why?"

"Assma," he says, and Rachel isn't sure what to say.

"Asthma? You mean?"

"Asthma. I get it, quite badly in fact." He is almost proud of this.

"Do you?"

"Quite badly." He thinks a little more, and moves away again. "Maybe they're all dead anyway."

"What?" Rachel asks, and moved closer.

"Here. There. Everywhere. All over."

"Don't be stupid." The idea frightens her.

"Could be. They got bombs now... Could..."

"They're not all dead stupid!" she says, moving away. "Not everyone in England, stupid. Not the whole of the British Isles. Not our parents." She moves away again and does a handstand.

"Could be." The boy thinks. He looks towards Rachel. "Thass good!"

"It's easy..." she says. "You just have to..." she does another. The boy admires her from afar.

"Thass good!"

"You try," she wipes the sand off her hands onto her rolled up trousers.

"Can't."

"Come on, it you know so much..." she makes a move towards him.

"Can't." The boy repeats.

"Give me your feet. I'll pull you..." she grabs his feet, pulling him over. She goes down with him.

"Oh, blimey!" They collapse in laughter, Rachel finally lets him go.

"So, what's your name?"

"What?"

"What's your name?" she repeats, slower, as if he was a little deaf.

"Piggy..." he whispers.

She leans forward, "What?"

"Piggy."

"Piggy?"

"Piggy." Piggy says, nodding.

"Amazing." She laughs, getting up.

"But you're not to tell anyone. No one." He makes her promise.

"I won't Piggee! Piggee!" she mimics, and ruffles his hair, knocking his glasses askew.

"Don't" he shouts, putting her antics to an end. She stops.

"I'm sorry. I won't then. I'm Rachel," she holds out her hand for a proper introduction.

"Piggy," they shake hands. Rachel spots something down near the shore. It's a large cream coloured shell, with intricate markings of tan, yellow, grey and brown. "Look!"

"Look where?" Piggy asks, and follows her.

"Look at this!" She holds it up for him to see. "It's a shell. A conch. That's what they call it. A conch."

"I seen one. At my auntie's friend's house I..."

"You blow in them, don't you?" she asks. Piggy shakes his head.

"I don't."

"You blow in them and they make a noise."

"I don't. My assma," he explains, she shakes her head.

"From down here," she indicates her diaphragm. "It's like the flute. I'm in the orchestra."

"You what?"

"The flute. You know. Well, not the flute. The saxophone or the clarinet."

"Uh?" he asks, not understanding anything.

"Don't you know anything? It makes a noise!" she blows the conch. A fantastic farting sound comes out.

"Oh what?" they both fall about laughing. "Do it again then. Since you're in the orchestra."

Another farting noise. Piggy scoffs, "some orchestra!"

"You can, though! You can make a really good noise, if you get it right..." she explained.

"Yeah?"

One more farting noise, and they both collapse against one another, laughing.

"I bet there are people. I bet there are some others." Rachel begins, "I bet if I blow this thing they'll come. I bet. And-"

"And what?" he asks.

"I don't know what..." she admits.

"Call 'em. If they're there less call 'em. Eh? Blow. And let 'em all come."

And Rachel blows the conch again, this time a long sweet note echoes along the beach. A pause, and then it is answered by a boy's soprano on the same note. Rachel plays again. And another note. Piggy has moved away from the shore, and points off towards the jungle.

"Look! Over there!"

And once more the note is sounded and answered, nearer this time. And again. And the note is picked up by other voices. A real professional chord sound. Louder and louder. And then at the height of the sounds, a choir appear, in full uniform. A prefect urging them on.

"Where's the man with the trumpet?" the new boy asks Rachel and Piggy. He turns and to the choir, "In a line! Come on! In a line!"

But the line breaks up as more kids appear. "You have to keep in a line! Otherwise..." the boy says.

"Otherwise what, Merridew?" another scraggly looking lad asks, and the taller one stammers a little, thrown off.

"Otherwise..." he pauses. "You have to keep in a line. That's all." He dismisses the other boy, and the smaller lad turns to no one and says,

"I'm hot..."

The taller prefect turns towards Piggy and Rachel, and asks, "Who was blowing the trumpet?"

Rachel steps forward. "Me." They boy faces Rachel and glares at her like someone in a sort of American standoff. She looks up and down the bedraggled line, and notices their uniform. "You're the choir."

"Yes."

"You're good." She moves further up the line, as if 'inspecting'.

"I'm choir prefect. The others are slacking." He turns to face his lot, "And so are you!" they snap back in line immediately. "Come on!" he yells up the beach.

"I'm Rachel," she says, and the boy turns to face her.

"Ah: Merridew. Jack Merridew," he says. "That's Cambourne," he indicates the scraggly-looking lad from earlier, "That's-" he indicates two identical twins:

"Sam-"

"'N Eric-"

The only this that is different, is that Sam has his shirt out, and top buttons undone, and Eric has his shirt in, with a loosened tie.

"They're all slack beasts," he tells her. "Are we going to have proper names? Like school? I-"

"I'll take 'em down," Piggy steps forward, and puts up his hand.

"Who's he?" Jack asks.

"He's..." Rachel remembers the promise she and Piggy made. "I don't know who he is.

"I'll take names," he crosses over to the scraggly-lad, and asks, "What was you?"

"Simon,"

"Okay, 'n you two?" to the twins.

"Sam 'n Eric."

"And you three?" Piggy asks three girls, all with ponytails and smart uniform.

"I'm Harriet," says the eldest, "that's Gemma, and Charlotte." Harriet pointed to the other two.

Jack turns to Rachel once Piggy has collected all the names. "We have to have some system you see." He crosses up the beach again, "Come on then!"

Rachel turns towards the jungle again, "Look! Over there! By the trees! There are some little kids. D'you see?"

"But no grown-ups!" Jack says. Rachel pauses, his comment has thrown her.

"They were in the front of the plane. They-"

"Come on! You two juniors or whatever! Come on!" Jack interrupts, Rachel scaring him. He strains his eyes to see further along the coast, with amazement: "Why is he just lying on the beach?"

"Well..."

"Well what?" Jack asks.

"I s'pose he can..."

"Can what?"

"Well..." Rachel says. "He's got all day."

"All day to do what? That's the question!" He notices a boy and a girl coming in from the trees, "Come on then!"

A lad and a girl come in, dragging their cloaks behind them. Once they join the back of the line, Jack corners them.

"Why can't you keep in line? Maurice? Billie?"

"It's _hot_, Merridew." Maurice complained.

"I'm choir prefect," Jack repeats to Rachel, as much to anyone, "What are you?"

"I'm..." she grins, "I'm Rach. I dunno."

"We should have a meetin'." Piggy interjects, and Jack turns to face him.

"Should we?" Jack doesn't like the sound of him. "Who did you say he was?" to Rachel.

"Ask him."

"All I said was - we should 'ave a meetin'."

"Who _are_ you?" Jack asks again.

"Never mind who I am. We should 'ave a meetin'. An' we should take all the names and get organized." Piggy states.

"Well, we'll start with your name, shall we?" Jack asks, with a devilish smirk on his face.

"All I'm saying is-" Piggy crosses over to the line again, and discusses with Simon and Harriet, the most intellectual of the lot.

Rachel leans towards Jack, "He's got quite a funny name in fact..." The whole group turn to face them.

"Rach!" Piggy warns.

"What?"

"You promised."

"Promised what?"

"You know what." Piggy is desperate.

"I don't know what you're on about." Rachel denies.

"You know - you-"

"His name's Piggy, in fact." Everyone laughs. Piggy is at the centre of it all, being shoved and teased.

"Piggy!" Jack asks, with a Cheshire-cat smile.

"You promised!" Piggy yells at Rachel. His wetness irritating Rachel.

"Piggy!" Jack and Rachel are drawing together.

"Oh! Too perfect!" Jack teases, making a show of his words.

"You promised!" Piggy shouts at Rachel.

"I never!" Rachel shouts back.

"You did! You promised!"

"Well, you were being stupid!" she yells, giving as good as she gets.

Maurice steps forward, being the pacifist here: "Why do we want a meeting? What do we want a meeting for?"

"Because..." Rachel starts, looking from Jack to Piggy.

"To see about being rescued." He says, and Rachel shoots him a thankful look. "An' we have to have a meetin'. To decide."

"First of all," Jack begins, taking the spotlight for a moment. "We have to decide who's in charge. And I should be in charge because I'm choir prefect. Are you a prefect at your school?" he asks Rachel.

"I will be, probably."

"Where are you?" Jack asks.

"Upton."

"I don't know that. Is that a good school?" Jack asks her, and she ponders for a moment.

"I dunno. It's OK I suppose." They become aware they have got off the track; Piggy gets back to his point.

"I go to Barnabas High. Anyone know it?" he asks the choir, and they start laughing, giggling and pointing.

"No 'Piggy', in fact we don't, 'Piggy'." He stops, scrutinizing the lad. "And if that's its uniform I don't think we do want to know it do we?" to the choir.

Simon speaks up for the first time in about five minutes: "He's right though. We should. We should have a meeting."

Jack turns on him, patronizing and snarling. "Cambourne has spoken! We have to have a meeting now! Well done, Cambourne!"

Rachel turns to him, and asks: "What did you say your name was?"

"Simon."

"Cambourne." Jack says.

"Simon Cambourne," Simon confirms.

"It has to be names like at school doesn't it?" Jack asks. "Otherwise, we'd end up like a lot of savages!"

Maurice and Billie start up the crowd: gorilla impressions. Much 'hoo hooing'. The kids all enjoy it.

Jack has moved back up right and is looking off into the jungle, having spotted another three lads. "Come on you lot!" he shouts to them. "Come on!" Jack has his back to the others: Rachel joins him.

"He's right really." She says.

"Who is?" Jack asks.

"Him. Piggy. He's right really. We have to have a meeting." Rachel explains.

"Meetings are jolly useful of course."

"Where did you say you were at...?" Rachel asks Jack.

"Godstone."

"Oh yes."

"Have you heard of it?" Jack asks, slightly glad that she knows where he was at.

"I think so."

Maurice and Billie step forward. "We absolutely thrashed Audley House at rugger." The rest of the choir agrees.

"We completely annihilated them." Billie says.

Simon chips in as he hears the conversation. "They did. It was quite horrible."

"My dad says if you can run with the ball..." Rachel adds: she's the most active of the girls in her class in P.E. Her father an avid rugger player.

"Where do you play?" Jack is extremely happy now that he knows the girl has an interest in sports. "Are you useful?"

"I'm a forward." She still has the conch in her hands; she tosses it from hand to hand. "I can run with the ball. I..." She notices Jack is running for her. "Hey!"

"Over here!" Maurice shouts. Rachel passes it to Maurice, who runs with her. Jack goes for Maurice. Although he's thin and a little stringy he's a fierce tackler.

"Maurice, here!" Maurice passes it to Billie who passes it to the three girls: Harriet, Gemma and Charlotte. They screech and toss the ball back and forth a bit, before Rachel goes up and snatches it back.

Rachel runs a little, but is tackled by Jack and he brings her down with him. As she goes down with him, Rachel tosses the conch to Piggy, who it hits in the stomach.

Rachel and Jack's tackle brings the game to a halt, as Jack is on top of Rachel. She shoves Jack off the top of her, and catches her breath a moment.

"Not bad! You're not bad!" Jack says. They are still lying down, breathing heavily.

"Well... you know... only a genius..." she smiles.

Piggy steps forward, very annoyed that they've all forgotten what they are all there for.

"When you've all finished runnin' over the place, maybe we can start doin' things prop'ly! Because if all the grown-ups aren't here... I mean if there aren't any... I mean if all the bombs have..."

He scares Jack into violence, who suddenly gets up and yells:

"Shut up, can't you? You stupid little boy!"

Rachel steps up after a pause, "Who's going to be in charge? Will it be one person or-"

"You have to have a vote." Simon says.

"You do. You have to have a vote," Piggy agrees. Sam and Eric get on their feet, and talk in sync.

"And you have to count up the numbers and then if you're on your feet you talk..."

"We can't all talk at once.

"I know, that's what we're saying, we always talk together and it gets confusing." They say again.

There is a pause as they all think. "We might you know." Rachel says.

"Might what?" Maurice says.

"Might have to have rules. If what Piggy... if what he says is right then... maybe there is, you know... just us..."

"Is that so bad?" Jack asks them all. A few murmur.

"Depends on us." Simon says.

"So what? So what if they're all dead. Eh?" he strides around, looking at everyone. "Look. Look over there. There's fruit on those trees. And there's fish in the sea. And it'll be like... it doesn't matter!" he says, using his hands a lot. "We can do whatever we like can't we?"

"Ye-eaahh!" Billie shouts.

Maurice agrees, "Smash the place up..."

"Ye-eaahh!" Harriet agrees.

"Midnight feasts!" Maurice says, and does the gorilla impressions again.

"Murder unlimited!" Billie shouts.

Piggy takes the centre again, and shouts to get their attention. "We can't though! We can't. We can't do jus' as we please. An' if we all talk at the same time we'll never get no where will we? I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what..." he still has the shell left over from the rugger game. He holds it up, very earnest.

"This shell. This shell thingy... If we're in a meetin' 'ooever holds the shell means that person is talkin'. And that is a rule, you hear me? And it must never be broken."

The intellectual daring of this silences even Jack.

Quietly, Rachel says: "OK."

"Just because he says?" Jack challenges, stepping a little closer.

"Well..."

"Is it a rule just because he says?" he asks again, stepping closer.

"Well... it..." Rachel stammers, now face to face with him. Even though he is thin, she acknowledges, he is well built. She also notices his blue eyes and dirty-blonde hair. Jack notices her green eyes, and stares for a few moments.

"The question is..." Simon says, "Is it a good rule?"

"You what?" Rachel asks him, leaning around Jack.

"Is it good? That's all."

"You're funny." Rachel says, and Jack nods.

"He is. He's weird. He's a Buddha man he's..." Jack spreads his arms as if he almost knows what's coming next.

"From another planet," Simon agrees.

"I think," Jack says, "we should talk about the leader and who's the leader because you always need a leader and..."

"You can't." Piggy says, stepping forward.

"Cant what?" Jack asks, annoyed that the lad has interrupted his trail of thought.

"Can't talk."

"Can't _what?_"

"You 'aven't got the shell. I got the shell." Piggy tells him.

"Look-"

"Is it a rule though?" Maurice asks, and Billie nudges him.

"It's a roo-ool!" they laugh.

"School rules must be obeyed and at all times boys must wear a cap on the premises and-" Sam and Eric begin, but Jack stops them.

"OK, it's a rule!" then to Piggy. "Give me the shell and I'll say something..."

"I 'aven't said what I was goin' ter say," he says, holding the shell tighter.

"Well say it and we'll all yawn and then pass me the shell." Jack says.

Piggy starts: "All I was saying was..." Now he has the floor he's a little tongue-tied. "We don't know 'ow many's on the island. We don't know. We 'ave to get them all together an' 'ave a meetin'."

Jack yawned.

"Right. Pass me the shell then." A tense pause. Piggy looks at Rachel, but no help forthcoming there. He passes it to Maurice, who passes it to Billie, who passes it to Rachel. She stares down at the shell for a brief moment, but chucks it to Jack.

"Now." Jack begins. He throws the conch from hand to hand, liking the power of it. "I'm talking. And I have the shell. And I think..." he looks around. "I think I should be leader. Because I'm choir prefect."

"Why?" challenges Piggy.

"Because it's a good idea, stupid. Anyway, you can't talk, I've got the shell," Jack waves it in Piggy's face, and Piggy has the slight temptation to march over to him and snatch it off him.

Maurice steps forward. "My turn for the shell."

Jack turns to face Maurice, who has a smirk on his face. "Catch me Walsh! You wish..." Jack swerves to avoid Maurice, but he snatches the shell off him.

"First to get it..." he taunts Jack, who jumps high and reaches for the conch.

"Come on then! Come on then!" Jack starts to feint, with the rather admirable aggression of the natural games player.

"To me! To me!" Billie yells.

"Come on, Walsh! Come on then!" Jack says as Maurice lunges. Jack dodges and sends the ball to Billie.

"No! This ain't proper! This ain't-" Piggy yells, but Rachel interrupts.

"This ain't cricket, Piggy!" She moves out, to see where the shell will go. Maurice has headed for Billie and she passes to Harriet. Harriet squeals again, and sends it flying towards Simon. He catches it. Unintentionally.

"Cambourne!" shouts Jack.

"Simon, over here!" Billie yells.

Simon places the conch on the floor gently, and Sam and Eric go for it. They pull and tug for it, neither letting go. This is properly fighting. Billie runs forward and snatches it off the both of them.

"To me! To me!" yells Jack to Billie. Just as Billie is about to pass, Rachel does a very neat tackle. They fall and Rachel ends up with the shell, waving it like a trophy.

"It's mine! It's mine! It's mine!"

She stays very still, holding the conch aloft. The light catches it.

"Rach! Rachel for leader." Piggy cries. This is said of course, because of his hostility to Jack. But Rachel's stillness, and the fact that she is still holding the conch aloft makes the others pick up the cry.

"Rachel for leader! Rachel for leader! Rachel for-" they all cry, bar Jack.

"If you want me for leader..." Jack begins, halting the chants.

"If you want Jack for leader. Put up your hands!" Rachel cries, as spokesperson.

Most of the choir put up their hands, but some put theirs down. At the end no one has their hand up.

"Rachel for leader! Rachel!" Sam and Eric cry.

Rachel pauses for a moment, considering their cries. She experiments for a moment, not knowing if anyone would put up their hands.

"Put up your hands! If you want me for leader."

And all, apart from Jack put up their hands. Jack is mortified. Rachel looks around at her audience, and smiles.


	2. Part 1: Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies, only William Golding. It is also closely based on the 'Acting Edition' adapted by Nigel Williams, and I'm not him either.**

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**Part 1: Chapter 2**

"If you want me for leader I said. If you want me," he says, walking around the group. Those with their hands still raised drop them immediately. "Then you have to put up your hands. If you don't want to be stupid. It you want to be..."

As he is speaking, a small, insignificant-looking boy comes forward from the back.

"If you want to follow... you know... people are so pathetic! Look at him!" Jack means Piggy.

At the front, with curious, almost sinister quietness, the boy raises his hands. He is smiling.

"If you want firm leadership, in fact if you know what that is - people slacking, people not pulling their weight, go on put up your hands!"

"Who are you?" Rachel asks the boy.

"Roger."

"You're a bit late, I'm afraid. We've already got a leader." Rachel says.

"Who's that?"

"Me." Then to Jack, "but you must have the choir of course. They're yours."

Maurice steps forward again. "They could be an army."

"If we're attacked..." Harriet says.

"Or hunters..." Billie adds. Sam and Eric look at each other, and then say:

"They could do if we got attacked by strangers."

Roger has moved downstage, and Simon follows.

"What school are you from?" he asks.

"Does it matter?" Roger answers, looking out towards the sea.

"Well, it might, I suppose..."

"I'm from nowhere school, that's where I'm from."

"I thought I'd seen you before." Simon says, thinking.

Jack turns towards them, still annoyed at his loss of the vote. "In a dream, did you, Cambourne? Was it in one of your dreams?" he patronized.

"What's wrong with me, Merridew? What's-"

"'What's wrong with me?' Everything." Jack glares at Simon, trying to vent his anger.

"Listen." Rachel says, stepping forward, in front of the other girls.

"'Rachel for leader'" Jack mocked, spinning on his heel to face her.

"Listen!" she still has the shell, and holds it up high. "I'm leader. And there's no need for fighting. Because we're all one gang. One gang. And this is our island. It belongs to all of us. Doesn't it?"

"Unless there's natives..." Piggy says, peering around Maurice.

"If there were natives they would have been here by now..." Jack says, extremely annoyed with Piggy.

"It's ours. All ours. I'm sure of it. It looks like that, don't you think? Look at it. The sand. Blue sea, those palms. Look at it. There's no one. No one but us." Rachel says, turning to talk to the whole group, and not just Jack, Piggy and Simon.

Jack turns around, and notices something. "Look up there - there's a great hill!"

"Do as a look-out!" Rachel says, turning also.

"Hang on!" Piggy says, grabbing Rachel's arm.

"Hang on where?"

"Rachel, you're leader - it's a meetin' thass what it is'"

"It's an adventure, stupid!" Jack runs towards the hill, and runs up the incline.

"Rachel's got the conch, she-"

"Rachel, it's amazing up here..." he has started to move further up the hill, and is having to shout. "It's amazing! You can see right across the island!"

Piggy walks to the bottom of the hill, and yells: "It's a meetin'!"

"Rach, it's really good!" Jack yells down, and Rachel is severely tempted to run and join him.

"Rachel, you can talk. You got the conch. You talk." Piggy says, pointing to the conch.

Rachel can't resist Jack. "You talk Piggy," she tosses him the shell, and he catches it. "Talk about your auntie. Talk to yourself," and Rachel is making her way to stand next to Jack and Roger.

"Talk rubbish." Roger adds, and Jack snorts.

"Look, over there it's all blue, you can see right around the island!" Sam and Eric say.

"Look at the trees!" Harriet says, admiring the colours.

"It's wonderful! Brilliant, it's all blue!" Billie says.

"Our island!" Rachel shouts.

Jack agrees, "Treasure island!"

"Coral island!" shouts Billie.

"Castaways!" shouts Harriet, smiling.

"Three cheers for our island!" Jack shouts, Piggy is trying to make his way up the hill, but is puffing and panting.

"Lissen!"

"Hip-Hip-" Jack shouts.

"Hooray!" the rest yells.

"Hip-Hip-"

"Hooray!"

"Hip-Hip-"

"Hooray!"

Simon is halfway between the Piggy and the others. He is really, animally, excited.

"Look! Look!" Jack shouts.

"It's a pig!" Rachel says. All the rest try to see where it is.

"Look at it go!" Simon says, pointing towards it, but still on his own.

"Where?" Sam asks.

"There! There!" Simon answers.

"I can't see it..." Eric says. The crowd is around Jack and Rachel now, all looking out towards the jungle.

"It came out of those trees. It was running with its head down." Jack begins, "It's come back! You see?" he's very excited. "It's come back! There it goes! See?"

"It's amazing! Look at it!" Simon says.

"Let's get it! Come on! Let's get it!" Sam says, and some kids start to move down the hill.

"Steady on!" Rachel calls, and Jack turns back.

"Steady on what?" Jack asks.

"One thing at a time!"

"What thing at a time?"

"How would you get it?" Rachel quizzes him, and he thinks before saying:

"Get sticks of course!"

"We haven't got sticks," Eric says. Piggy is down at the bottom of the hill, a long way from them.

"What are you doing?" he calls.

Jack gets the gang around him, and they all listen intently. "I've been hunting. In England. I've been out with the hunters. It's good fun." He turns to Roger, and mimics 'blooding' him.

"When they blood you, they put blood all over you. I'm a good hunter in fact. I'm a natural hunter. We should sharpen sticks and go hunting. We should..." Jack has started to make his way down with Roger.

Rachel is still on the hill. "What we need... What we need..."

"Is a good shit!" Maurice the clown, they all laugh apart from Rachel and Jack.

"What we need is a fire." There is a deadly silence. "We need to build a fire, up here where it can be seen. And there needs to be smoke from the fire. And then a ship will see it and rescue us." The idea has their attention.

"My dad's in the Navy. And he says the Queen has this room. And in this room is a map with absolutely all the islands on the world on it. And when they realize the plane has gone missing, they'll send out ships and look. And they'll look and look and look until they find us."

Roger has moved away, but still hears what Rachel is saying. "Will they?"

She moves down to join him, and the gang follow. "They will. And that's why the fire has to be-"

"If there's any of them left." Roger says.

"They-"

"They'll bomb each other to bits, won't they? Isn't that why we were sent away like that? To get away from the bombs?" He turns to face Rachel and spits words into her face. "Well?"

He starts to walk further, and turns towards the choir.

"They get bigger and bigger bombs. There won't be any of them left, will there?" he asks. Everyone looks scared out of their skins. "There probably isn't a Queen left. Or any of those things. Just us" He bends down to pick up a large rock and throws it. He watches as it plunges to the floor, a large slap.

"Why should they?" Roger asks again. "Why should they bother to follow us? They're all too busy... killing one another..."

"Listen-" Rachel begins.

"To what?" Jack asks.

"You all voted me chief right?" Rachel asks the group. "We'll make a fire."

"And how will we start it?" Jack asks, but Maurice jumps in.

"With sticks. Like de native!" his racist joke makes them laugh. Billie corrects him, tapping him on the arm slightly.

"No, no, you rub them together-"

This stops them short. Piggy is still alone at the bottom of the mountain. He calls up to them.

"Wha' you doin'?"

"Glasses!" Rachel says, looking at Piggy.

"Who's glasses?" Jack moves over to join her. Roger follows him.

"Piggy's glasses! Him, down there! Piggy!"

"Thought we'd find a use for him..." Jack starts to move down to Piggy with Roger and Maurice. The group follow, crowding around Piggy.

"Don't want you, you know, but..." Maurice starts.

"Just love your glasses!" Roger says, taking a few steps forward.

"Piggy's glasses!" Rachel says again from above them all.

"You can you know. Because the sun's rays..." Simon drifts off from above them all.

"'The sun's rays...' what Professor Cambourne?" Jack taunts, looking up at him with elements of distaste.

Rachel calls down to Piggy: "Piggy!"

Roger pulls Jack aside. "Look at them."

"Look at who?" Jack asks.

"Those two; Piggy 'n Rach. They love each other." He throws another stone. Jack's smile fades.

Maurice comes up to Jack and Roger with Billie. "Let's keep a watch!"

"For what?" Jack asks.

"For pig." Maurice tells him. "Keep a watch."

"Yeah!" Billie jumps from behind Roger, he turns to face her. "And when the time comes..." Roger's grin becomes a snarl.

"Yeah!" Jack says.

"Come on. It isn't just kid's stuff. It's serious, so come on! I'm chief right? So listen!" Rachel shouts from above them all. "We should get rescued, OK? So, Piggy, let's have your glasses." She asks.

"You what?" Piggy asks, as he moves forward closer to her.

"'You what?'" Jack mimics. He goes to stand one side of Piggy, Roger moves to the left and Maurice and Billie block behind him.

"Is that what you was after?" Piggy asks Rachel. Rachel tugs Piggy a little closer to her.

"Listen-"

"I need my glasses," he tells her. Jack is getting really peeved with this kid.

"What do you need your glasses for then?" Jack asks.

"See with, a' course."

"'See with...' Brilliant."

"Piggy we need your glasses," Rachel tells him.

"You can't! You run off in the middle of a meetin' and-"

"Shut up and give her the glasses!" Roger shouts.

"I won't!"

"Give her the glasses, or we'll make you." Jack says. He motions for the four standing around him to close in.

"I don't see why I should..."

"Shut up and give her the glasses!" Roger shouts again, startling Piggy.

"Rach-" but she doesn't respond to his call. She feels awful doing this. "I mean... be fair... I mean..." he takes them off muttering, "I don't see why I should..." he slowly hands them to Rachel, who makes a start back up the hill.

"Thank you..." Jack says.

"Can't see nothing now!" Piggy cries.

"So kind of you." Jack turns to face him again, but follows Rachel.

"Get leaves!" Rachel cries from up top.

"Can't see a thing..." Piggy murmurs again.

"And twigs!" Jack says.

"That's it! Leaves and twigs!" she cries.

"Look at that sun!" Jack says, turning to admire it.

Rachel is on her knees now, trying to collect a heap of dry leaves to start the fire.

"It'll catch. You see. It'll catch!"

Jack and Rachel are co-conspirators in this. Piggy watches from the bottom of the hill, excluded. All the others gather around them, respectful.

"It narrows the rays, you see." Simon begins.

"Does it?" Maurice asks, looking for twigs.

"To a point. We did it in science," Simon tells him, also looking for dry wood.

"It's catching!" Rachel cries.

"It is!" Jack agrees.

"It's like in stone-age times," Billie says, taking wood to Jack and Rachel.

"It must have been like that," Rachel says.

"I bet." Jack agrees. He seems much closer to Rachel in this moment of co-operation.

"You made fire..."

"And you hunted..."

"And you..."

Piggy is really lost without his glasses. He moves from sitting on a log to standing under a tree, close to the rim of the hill.

"Excuse me," he shouts, wanting to be acknowledged.

"What?" Rachel shouts down.

"I can't see nothing," he says, but the others carry on the fire ritual. "And what do you mean 'stone-age times?' Are these stone-age times? I 'adn't noticed. And did stone-age people have glasses, I'd like to know. I don't think so. And if they did - did they go grabbing them off each other? Those are my glasses," he says, with contempt: "You're just a pack of kids. You can't just make a fire and not think about it. You got to do it prop'ly. You-"

"It's catching!" Rachel yells.

"It is! It's catching!" Jack says.

"Look at that go!" Maurice yells, still collecting sticks.

"I want my glasses!" Piggy shouts.

Jack turns on him: "Shut up can't you? I don't know who you are or what you're doing here but just shut up can't you?"

"Rachel - you tell 'im - you-"

But Rachel is quite absorbed in the fire.

"Look at that! Look at it go!"

"It's spreading!" Billie yells over the noise.

"Isn't it just," Harriet adds.

"Yes, it is innit? It's goin' mad. An' if you don't build a fire prop'ly it does go mad. In fact-"

"Look, it'll get out of control," Simon butts in.

"He's right." Rachel concurs.

"So what? So what if it's out of control?" Jack asks the gang.

"Look it's spreading... Oh, for God's sake!" Rachel says, and they all move backwards away from the flames and down the hill.

"It is... It's..." Simon says.

Indeed, smoke is billowing wildly. They haven't set out a barrier for the fire so it is spreading too fast across the hill. The smoke is really getting out of control.

"It's out of control!" Billie yells coughing.

"It's a forest fire!" Sam 'n Eric yell.

"Water..." Maurice suggests.

"Water? Water? Wocher mean water? Yes, iss out a' control in case you 'adn't noticed!" Piggy mocks. Roger turns on him.

"So what if it's out of control? What's it to you if it's out of control?"

"Stamp it out!" Rachel yells.

"Listen-" Roger starts.

"Jack we ought to! We ought to put it out!"

Jack is unsure whether to agree with Rachel, but there is a sense in which he can make deals with her.

"Yes!"

"Yeah!" Billie yells.

"Stamp!" Harriet yells to the girls.

"Stamp it out everyone!" Rachel yells.

"It's catching on the grass," Jack says, kicking dirt on the flames.

"Hey! Forest fire!" Maurice yells.

"Yeah! Forest fire! Yeah! If you'd have listened to me. You'd have not bin in this mess wouldjer? Forest fire!" Piggy shouts.

"Shut up Piggy and help!" Rachel says.

"Yeh help! Help everyone!" Jack says.

"We put out de fire!" Maurice yells.

"Stamping dance!" Billie shouts, and she stamps to a rhythm that almost all the choir follow.

"Get de rhydmn!" from Maurice.

All of them are now stamping and using their cloaks or blazers to smother the flames. All, that is, apart from Piggy. Rachel, annoyed with herself for her mistake, screams at him.

"Don't just stand there like a great, fat, wet weed! Help! Help can't you?"

"Why should I?" he yells. "Iss you goes out when there's a meetin' and does things stupid and takes my glasses, why should I? Why should I help when I can't even see my glasses?"

But Jack has developed a new game for them.

"Stamp!" he shouts.

"Stamp!" the group chorus.

"We stamp!"

"We stamp!" each time enunciated by two stamps.

"It's going! We've got it! It's stopping!" Rachel yells.

"Stamp!"

"Stamp!" they all cry.

"We stamp!"

"We stamp!" The smoke starts to die down, and they smother the last few embers. There is a cacophony of choking and coughing, and several gasps for air.

"We did it!" Rachel cries, and punches her fist in the air. There is an appreciative applause.

"Did what? What didjer do? What?" Piggy asks from down below.

Rachel notices something emerging from the smoke - "Look!"

Everyone looks down on the lit'lun as if he were a visitor from Mars which, in his neat school uniform, his shining satchel and perfect prep school gear, he could well be.

"It's a little kid!"

"Must've seen the smoke!" Jack says, wheezing his words.

"And what you goin' ter do about him, eh? Woch you goin' ter do about him an' all the other lit'luns? There's a load of 'em over there isn't there?" Piggy asks: Simon responds to his appeal.

"I don't know."

"Cambourne." Jack warns.

"I don't know what we know. I don't know where we are or what this island is or whether it's a good island. It looks like a good island but is it? I don't know."

Jack turns on him.

"You are always saying things to be clever, Cambourne, and to make people feel scared or something. Because you're a weirdie who froths at the mouth and falls down in matins."

The choir laughs, Jack feels better about his status now, and they follow him down. Rachel is talking to the little boy.

"Was there a fire?" he asks her, and she nods.

"Yes. But it's gone now."

"Adam Jackson was next to me. But he isn't..." the boy begins.

"Isn't what?"

"Isn't here?"

"No?" she looks around. There was no mention of any 'Adam's or 'Jackson's. "No."

"I went into the trees." The boy tells her.

"Did you?" Rachel is a little tired of playing babysitter.

"I did."

"We should get you all together. It's all difficult. We..." Rachel trails off.

"I saw something." The boy says.

"Did you?" she's not really listening. "Which school are you from?"

"Not from your school." The boy tells her as matter of fact.

"We're from different schools."

"Have the bombs killed everyone? Have they killed our mums yet?" the boy asks. He is starting to scare Rachel. She kneels down, and takes him down with her.

"Listen-"

"We were sent because of the bombs weren't we?" he asks.

"I am Perceval Wemys Madyson, The Vicarage, Harcourt St Anthony."

The others have gathered around them now. "Good for you!" Roger laughs.

"I went into the trees," Perceval says.

"He's been into the trees he says." Rachel tells the group.

"I saw something." Jack grabs his shoulder, and snarls in his ear:

"What did you see?" Perceval tries to rub his shoulder, but Jack still has his hand on him.

"A beastie. A snake thingy. I saw it." There is an uneasy silence.


	3. Part 1: Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Flies, only William Golding. It is also closely based on the 'Acting Edition' adapted by Nigel Williams, and I'm not him either.**

* * *

**Part 1: Chapter 3**

Jack snatches his hand back. "Don't be stupid. There's no beastie. There-" Jack starts.

"I saw it. Over there. In the trees. I went in and I saw this thing," Perceval whimpers.

Rachel tries to comfort him, not quite sure of her ground. "I'm sure there isn't. I'm sure. We've been up to that hill. And you can see all around. It all looks... I'm sure there isn't. There's just us. No beast."

"He's being stupid." Jack says.

"Unless..." Simon starts.

"Unless what?" Jack shouts at him.

"Nothing."

"There is a beast." He is making them all nervous. Harriet rounds on him.

"Why? Why is there a beast?"

"There just is." Perceval says. "Because I saw it."

Simon has moved away from the group.

"The sun's going down. It's getting colder." No one reacts to this. "Where do we sleep?"

"There can't be a beast..." Rachel says.

"Don't know about beasts. Know about animals. Know about snakes. But I dunno no beasts. All I know is I want my glasses. It's a meetin'. You got the shell!" Piggy says, to Rachel.

"Shut up about your stupid meeting, can't you? And your shell and your glasses!" Rachel snaps at him. She is really annoyed with him now.

"Why should she give you your glasses in fact? If she's Chief, she can do anything with your glasses in fact! She can..." he gropes for the word, "requisition them..." Jack shouts.

"She can do anything if she's Chief. That's what being a Chief means." Roger says, actually defending Rachel for once.

"How far in the woods did you go?" Rachel asks Perceval.

"Don't remember," he tells her.

"We saw them from up there, Rachel. We saw the whole island." Jack says.

"You have to go all over before you know. If it's a mountain you have to go to the top of the mountain and if it's a forest, right to the heart of the forest." Simon says.

"Use your eyes, Cambourne. That's all." Jack moves up the hill slightly, so he's above all the others.

"If there is a beast, let's hunt it!" he cries.

"I just don't believe there is one. A beast, I mean. Look at it! Look at this island! Look over there - at the sand and the trees. And the sea, the way it comes in so slowly. Out there... do you see... something jumped... something blue... oh and..." Rachel stops.

"Woss up?" Piggy asks, speaking for the first time since she had yelled at him.

"There." Rachel says.

"Where?" Jack asks.

"On the horizon."

"Where? What?" Billie asks.

"Right over there. Do you see it?" Rachel asks them.

"What's the-" Billie starts.

"A ship! A ship!"

"You what?" Jack asks.

"There! There! A ship!" Rachel says.

"Hey! Hey!" Maurice shouts jumping up and down. This gets them all started.

"Don't be completely stupid! They can't hear you!" Rachel shouts.

"It is! It's a ship!" Harriet agrees.

"I can see the smoke!" Sam'n'Eric say.

"Smoke..." Harriet tugs on Rachel's sleeve. She catches on.

"Quick, quick," she addresses Jack.

"What?"

"The fire."

"What about the fire?" he asks.

"We need the fire..."

"You're right!"

"The fire..." Rachel says.

"'We need the fire!'" Piggy mocks. Rachel turns on him.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she still has Piggy's glasses. Looking around wildly: "Get rocks. We'll make a proper fire. Put the rocks around it. And keep it in so as it doesn't spread like last time. Get rocks. Come on." Rachel shouts to them all, and they all obey the Chief.

"Get rocks. Come on you lot," Jack shouts to the choir. "Come on altos - get rocks!"

"Come on back up the hill! Come on!" Rachel yells, arranging the dirt into a little pile.

"'s all very well innit? 's all very well! 's a bit late though I recon!" Piggy shouts from down below.

The kids are swarming back and forth up and down the hill. Rachel with the glasses. Others are scattering around the place to find things to keep the fire in.

"Here's one!" Harriet says, passing it to Rachel.

"Here's another!" Sam says, with Eric following.

"Get leaves too!" Rachel shouts.

"Break those branches!" Jack yells.

"Here's a rock," Billie hands Rachel a large stone, a slab.

Simon rushes forward, "There's one over here, a big one," Billie and Harriet go and help.

"Come on, you!" Rachel shouts at Roger. He is simply standing, watching.

"It's too late..."

"Don't be stupid," Rachel spits.

"It's moving the wrong way..."

"Don't be..."

"Here's that big'un," Harriet says, lugging the rock with Billie and Simon. They plonk it down on the floor and Rachel and Jack manoeuvre it to its rightful place.

"Trouble is..." Rachel mutters.

"What's up?" Jack asks, arranging the sticks, rocks and leaves.

"The sun's lost strength..."

Jack looks up to the sky: "Come on! Come on God, you stupid!"

"Oh come on!" Rachel yells.

"More rocks here!" Sam and Eric say, bringing pocket-fulls.

"Another one!"

"Another one!" Harriet and Billie yell.

"Oh come on, can't you?" Rachel asks the fire.

"Try blowing on it..." Jack suggests.

"It takes ages. That's the trouble."

"The ship's going!" Roger yells.

"Can't you do something useful?" Rachel asks.

"It's going!" he says again.

"Blow on it!" Simon says.

"I'm blowing!"

"Blow harder!" Jack says.

"It's going!" Simon says, looking to the horizon.

"It's gone!" Roger yells.

"It has, Rachel!" Jack agrees.

"Oh come on!" Rachel shouts.

"It's gone! Look! It's gone!" Simon shouts, and Rachel looks up from her crouched position over the fire.

"It's gone." She agrees.

"Yes." Jack agrees.

"It's gone," Rachel repeats.

"I toldjer didn't I? I toldjer not to be so stupid. I toldjer it was a meetin' an' that. An' we should a' done things in order. An' you wouldn't lissen wouldjer?" Piggy shouts from below. He indicates Jack: "When it comes to it you're all the same I reckon. Same lot you are. Look at you! Kneelin' over something thass no use now. Look at yerself!"

Jack is waiting for Rachel to go for Piggy, but she doesn't. She gets up slowly, glasses in hand.

"You going to let him talk to you like that?" Jack asks her, and Roger butts in,

"Chief?"

"You going to let him? You going to let him talk to you like that?" he makes a stab at Piggy.

"Chief?"

"Yes." Rachel finally realises what she's done. She crosses down to Piggy with his glasses. "I'm sorry."

There is a deathly silence at the others watch. Jack feels a stab of betrayal creep into his chest. They all swarm to follow.

"I'm sorry I took your glasses. I'm sorry I lost my temper. I'm sorry I told them your name if it comes to that. I'm sorry. You were right. If we hadn't... if the fire hadn't... if we'd have thought. Piggy's right," Rachel says to the rest of them. "We got silly really. We must do things prop'ly like he said. And this fire," she sweeps her arm up until she is pointing at it. "Now this fire is started we must never let it out. There must be always someone here to guard it and make sure it's kept, so that if a ship comes and sees us we'll be rescued. Sam 'n' Eric can start here. And we'll go down to the beach and build shelters. We have to start now. And be sensible. That's what we have to do. And I say so. I'm Chief and I say so." Rachel addresses her audience, and they remain silent. Jack steps forward.

"Why do you listen to him?" He sees this as betrayal. He's looking for a way back to his audience. "What's so great about a fire anyway? What are we going to do with a fire anyway?" To the others: "We need sharp sticks, like spears, to protect us."

"Listen-" Rachel starts.

"No, you listen. You said I could have the choir, didn't you? I thought you were a regular chap and you... suck up to that..." he points at Piggy, and he starts up the hill. "We need spears. That's what I'm saying. We need a defence force. That's what I'm saying," he spits at Rachel.

"We need..."

"We need it now. Before it gets dark. Before something comes out of those trees..." Jack says.

"This is a meeting!" Rachel shouts, startling most of the lit'luns, "If you want to speak..."

"Very well. I want to speak. I want to speak." Jack holds out his hand for the shell.

"He can't! He-" Piggy begins.

"I want to speak."

Slowly, Rachel holds out her hand for the shell off Piggy, and he passes it to her. She reluctantly passes it to Jack.

"We must get spears. We must get weapons. It's getting dark. We don't know what's out there, but we're not afraid of it. Are we afraid of it?" Jack asks the crowd.

"No," a few mumble.

"Are we afraid of it?" Jack asks again.

"No!" the group shouts.

"Get spears!" shouts Roger.

"Hunt de pig!" yells Maurice.

Roger, Maurice, Billie, Harriet, Gemma, Michael and Charlotte all follow Jack who moves around the front of them, weaving in and out, chanting "Hunt! Hunt! Hunt de pig! Hunt! Hunt! Hunt de pig!" It gets louder and louder.

"Listen-" Rachel begins, but the choir and Roger don't listen.

The circle winds round until they reach the bottom of the hill. "I want to speak! Give me the conch!" Rachel screams.

The group stops. Jack pauses, and then throws the shell across to Rachel.

"You speak. And when we come back, we'll listen. We're not savages, you know. But we'll come back with spears." He moves away slightly, and turns back towards the choir.

"I thought you-" Rachel says.

"I thought you were quite a decent chap. Until you started crawling to that stupid little fat weed, who can't even speak properly. Sorry. 'Prop'ly.' Isn't that how it's pronounced these days?" he asks, then with the bitterness of betrayal, he continues: "How could you? How could you day sorry to him?" Rachel looks directly at Jack. She can almost see tears.

"Just when you and I had a good gang. Just when we had a good gang. And as for meetings and doing things properly... Of course we'll do things properly." Jack almost whispers. "But there are limits you know."

"I-" Rachel is speechless.

Jack has turned to his group. "Hunt! Hunt! Hunt de pig! Hunt! Hunt! Hunt de pig!" he screams.

"Yeah!"

He leads them in another circle, this time chanting: "Kill! Kill! Kill de pig! Kill! Kill! Kill de pig!"

They disappear into the woods, leaving Rachel with Piggy, Simon, Sam, Eric, Tommy, Edward and Perceval. She is left holding the conch.

"It's still a meeting. I..."

"Bunch a' kids." Piggy tells her.

"What?"

"Bunch a' stupid kids..."

"What's so great about you, eh? What's so marvellous about you, fatso?" She feels left out. Doesn't want to be left with the wets and the weeds. "If you hadn't..."

"I never done nothing." Piggy says, defending himself.

"Done nothing? Can't you speak English? Done anything!" Rachel yells at him. "You and your meetings. You and your..." she starts to walk away, but turns round: "You go and talk to yourself in your meetings!"

"Don't leave us!"

"You're all pathetic!" she shouts.

"Are we?"

"Yeah, you are. I'm going with them... I-"

"You can't!" Piggy stops her.

"Why can't I? Who made you Chief I'd like to know. It's all your fault they ran off like that. You undermine my authority if you'd like to know. Why'd I have to stay here?" Rachel yells. Piggy steps forward and puts his hand on her arm. She shakes it off.

"'Cos you're Chief. An' you know that. They know that an' all. An' they'll be back. 'Course they will. They'll come back with their tails between their legs. 'Cos you're Chief. An' you know what's right."

Very slowly, Rachel turns and walks back to the bottom of the hill.

"Listen, I can hear the beastie!" Perceval cries.

"That's not the beastie." Rachel turns towards the noise. They can hear the distant cries of 'Hunt! Hunt! Hunt!'

"It's us!"

"It ain't us." Piggy says.

"Who is it then?" Simon asks.

"It's them." He turns towards the noise as well and looks on with a sort of fear in his eyes.


End file.
